Rest, God’s Design

Devotional Reading: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28‭-‬29 ESV

I’ve got a question for you today: Are you tired? Now, I don’t mean the “I-need-a-chilled-drink-tired” I mean tired. The kind of longing for rest that doesn’t go away even after a full night’s sleep. Emotionally tired. Spiritually drained. Relationally exhausted. Financially strained… Are you tired?

I’ve found myself in this place too often in my life. However, God’s design for our lives is actually one filled with times of refreshing and rhythms of rest just as Jesus describes it in Matthew 11:28-29.

The imagery of animals yoked together isn’t what I would naturally think as rest… Sounds like work to me! But Jesus’ words are revolutionary. You see, we can work by ourselves in our own strength, and it will leave us weary, burdened and our soul’s absent from rest. Or we can do that same work yoked with Jesus and experience rest for our soul.

What if rest is less about what we are doing and more about who we are doing it with? What if it’s not our workplace robbing our rest; it’s not our family robbing our joy. What if it’s our lack of dependence on Jesus that is stealing our rest. Our rest is a place that’s only found in the person of Jesus. He refreshes our souls, comforts us and causes our lives to overflow!

Prayer and Confession
Thank you Jesus for the offer of rest you have given me. I declare today that I rest from all my works and I rely solely on you.

Further Reading: Hebrews 4:1-3